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It strongly depends on whether you're a "few times a year leisure traveller", or "multiple times a week business traveller". First few minutes of "Up in the ai

It strongly depends on whether you're a "few times a year leisure traveller", or "multiple times a week business traveller". First few minutes of "Up in the air" will give you a good idea of how strongly business travellers optimize. At my peak when I was doing 75+ flights/year, I would leave home at 7am to be on the 8am flight - this included taxi, security, boarding, and 20 minute margin for unexpected issues. I pack light and tight into a backpack that goes underneath my seat, because the flights on Toronto-Ottawa-Montreal Canadian corridor are 80+% priority status, daily travellers, and they ferociously fight for overhead space. Put it a different way - a 20 minute annoyance once a year is, bad but meh. 20 minute annoyance twice a week for a year - that's FULL WORK WEEK lost.

scarface74 7y ago
I fly out of Atlanta (the world’s busiest airport). While it’s usually not that bad, I would never take a chance on arriving less than the recommended two hours.
- NikolaNovak 7y ago
  It's two intersecting curves: - Risk, which is inversely related to early arrival - Wasteage, which is directly related to early arrival The slope of the curves is largely impacted by: - Personal risk tolerance; but also - Frequency of flying Personally: * When I fly for vacations, I am "arrive early and wait" type of person - typically 3 hrs or more. I have no problems being relaxed and reading at the airport :). * But when I fly weekly for work, I just can't _afford_ to be that early. The math is simple - 2hrs early times two flights a week times 45 weeks (assume few weeks of vacation or working remotely etc) is... 180 hours wasted at the airport. Holly crap, I just spent a month of work at the terminal! If I only arrive one hour before flight, I reduce that number by 90hrs. That's more than two work weeks saved - for how much additional risk have I taken? How many incidents will I incur? If I miss one out of every X flights due to reduced margin, am I still ahead? A lot of it is down to routine. I believe (but don't have math for this) that I have higher risk on my vacation trips, even with increased margin & time, as I don't have the routine down. Whereas on my weekly trips, 15 minutes is plenty. (I fly out of Pearson, which is about half the yearly throughput of Atlanta. Over 7 years, I have never missed a flight due to these margins. I did once miss a flight because I forgot my wallet - since then I have two wallets: one stays in the travel backpack, always; and one is in my pants. I like systems :)
  - NikolaNovak 7y ago
    I just re-watched first 10 minutes of Up-in-the-air to see if my hypothesis holds true. I wasn't as frequent of a flyer when I first saw it, but now I am even more convinced it's filmed by somebody who understands :). It's about: 1. There existing a system 2. You understanding the system, thoroughly 3. You using the system, thoroughly Watch: he walks through the metal detector at specific pace, with his body in specific pose, to reduce the risk of accidental set of. We all do it subconsciously, after a while. He knows what's in which pocket. He doesn't fumble for ID, search for boarding pass, it's all always within subconscious reach. He packs consistently, knows how many bins he'll need and how to unpack and pack for the security line. He has priority, status, pre-check, and everything else he needs. His demeanor is low threat, he obeys the requirements, and reduces friction efficiently at every step. Simply put he doesn't need two hours of margin, and yet his risk is slim to none :> [and this is why on the other hand,when I travel for vacation, I do need hours of margin:). The system is disrupted and efficiencies are lost]
  - scarface74 7y ago
    Makes sense. But there is also the unknown of traffic to get to the airport which could vary as much as an hour. But, I guess that can be partially alleviated if I just drove to the park and ride and took the train. But even that could vary a lot as far as I live from the nearest train station. Also, if you’re waiting at the airport for an additional hour, is that time wasted? If you were working at home during that hour or doing something for leisure, couldn’t you do the same at the airport?
    - NikolaNovak 7y ago
      Good point: * Monday mornings (outbound), for most people with relatively fixed sleeping habits, going an hour earlier to the airport (say, depart home 5am instead of 6 am for 7am flight, or equivalent) is an hour's sleep lost which cannot be substituted at the airport, and reduces your effectiveness for the day. * On return legs, in principle you can substitute airport time for work time, but in my experience it's never one to one exchange. Re traffic: I agree with you in principle; but I find traffic is unpredictable for changing destinations. For repeatable fixed-circumstances situations, less so - i.e. On Monday morning, at 6am, from home to airport, on same route, traffic is actually fairly predictable over time.

scarface74 7y ago

I fly out of Atlanta (the world’s busiest airport). While it’s usually not that bad, I would never take a chance on arriving less than the recommended two hours.

NikolaNovak 7y ago
It's two intersecting curves: - Risk, which is inversely related to early arrival - Wasteage, which is directly related to early arrival The slope of the curves is largely impacted by: - Personal risk tolerance; but also - Frequency of flying Personally: * When I fly for vacations, I am "arrive early and wait" type of person - typically 3 hrs or more. I have no problems being relaxed and reading at the airport :). * But when I fly weekly for work, I just can't _afford_ to be that early. The math is simple - 2hrs early times two flights a week times 45 weeks (assume few weeks of vacation or working remotely etc) is... 180 hours wasted at the airport. Holly crap, I just spent a month of work at the terminal! If I only arrive one hour before flight, I reduce that number by 90hrs. That's more than two work weeks saved - for how much additional risk have I taken? How many incidents will I incur? If I miss one out of every X flights due to reduced margin, am I still ahead? A lot of it is down to routine. I believe (but don't have math for this) that I have higher risk on my vacation trips, even with increased margin & time, as I don't have the routine down. Whereas on my weekly trips, 15 minutes is plenty. (I fly out of Pearson, which is about half the yearly throughput of Atlanta. Over 7 years, I have never missed a flight due to these margins. I did once miss a flight because I forgot my wallet - since then I have two wallets: one stays in the travel backpack, always; and one is in my pants. I like systems :)
- NikolaNovak 7y ago
  I just re-watched first 10 minutes of Up-in-the-air to see if my hypothesis holds true. I wasn't as frequent of a flyer when I first saw it, but now I am even more convinced it's filmed by somebody who understands :). It's about: 1. There existing a system 2. You understanding the system, thoroughly 3. You using the system, thoroughly Watch: he walks through the metal detector at specific pace, with his body in specific pose, to reduce the risk of accidental set of. We all do it subconsciously, after a while. He knows what's in which pocket. He doesn't fumble for ID, search for boarding pass, it's all always within subconscious reach. He packs consistently, knows how many bins he'll need and how to unpack and pack for the security line. He has priority, status, pre-check, and everything else he needs. His demeanor is low threat, he obeys the requirements, and reduces friction efficiently at every step. Simply put he doesn't need two hours of margin, and yet his risk is slim to none :> [and this is why on the other hand,when I travel for vacation, I do need hours of margin:). The system is disrupted and efficiencies are lost]
- scarface74 7y ago
  Makes sense. But there is also the unknown of traffic to get to the airport which could vary as much as an hour. But, I guess that can be partially alleviated if I just drove to the park and ride and took the train. But even that could vary a lot as far as I live from the nearest train station. Also, if you’re waiting at the airport for an additional hour, is that time wasted? If you were working at home during that hour or doing something for leisure, couldn’t you do the same at the airport?
  - NikolaNovak 7y ago
    Good point: * Monday mornings (outbound), for most people with relatively fixed sleeping habits, going an hour earlier to the airport (say, depart home 5am instead of 6 am for 7am flight, or equivalent) is an hour's sleep lost which cannot be substituted at the airport, and reduces your effectiveness for the day. * On return legs, in principle you can substitute airport time for work time, but in my experience it's never one to one exchange. Re traffic: I agree with you in principle; but I find traffic is unpredictable for changing destinations. For repeatable fixed-circumstances situations, less so - i.e. On Monday morning, at 6am, from home to airport, on same route, traffic is actually fairly predictable over time.